1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to combination medico-surgical tube devices for use in both ventilating a patient via an in-dwelling tube and aspirating fluid from the patient via a catheter led intermittently into the patient through such tube. More particularly, it concerns such devices in which the suctioning catheter can be stored when not in use in isolation from the ambient within a protective sheath that forms a permanent part of a closed system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of systems are conventionally used to ventilate patients, e.g., to provide a patient with a flow of oxygenated air. One basic type system of major use employs an endotracheal tube, tracheostomy tube, or equivalent in-dwelling tube to couple the patient to external gas supply equipment.
In the use of such equipment, it is frequently necessary to remove fluid, e.g., mucus, blood, etc., that may accumulate in the patient's trachea or bronchi. In order to eliminate the need to disassemble the ventilation system to aspirate the patient, systems have been developed which permit a suctioning catheter to be inserted into the patient while the ventilation system remains in place as disclosed in U.S. patents:
______________________________________ 2,912,982 4,291,691 4,022,219 4,300,550 4,240,417 4,351,328 4,499,548. ______________________________________
In the use of such combination devices, it was found desirable to be able to reuse a single catheter for repeated aspirations of the patient, rather then use a series of new catheters for multiple aspirations during a continuing ventilation procedure. However, this presents sterility problems, so the concept of using protective sheaths developed for repeated, sterile insertions of a single catheter through in-dewelling cannula (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,335,723; 3,757,771 and 3,894,540) was applied to the combination ventilation/aspiration devices as shown by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,902,500 and 3,991,762.
The present invention advances the art of construction and using the combination devices by providing further improvements including unique coupling and valve units.
While special valves of a variety of designs have been developed for use in medico-surgical tube systems (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,193,406; 4,333,452; 4,342,315; 4,356,823 and 430,073), this invention provides yet another type of suction control valve especially suited for use in the combination ventilation/aspiration devices to which the invention pertains.